Babies and small children, as well as the caretaker, enjoy being outdoors and going for outings in strollers. During an outing, the weather and the child's needs can change quickly. While children typically like to see as much around them as possible while sitting in the stroller and therefore like to be uncovered as much as possible while riding in the stroller, provisions have to be made for when the weather turns unexpectedly worse. Unlike vehicles where the occupants are comfortably seated irrespective of the weather conditions outside, an occupant of a stroller is not as lucky. The child is therefore totally dependent upon the caretaker for covering the child from rain or other elements, such as sleet or even snow.
Pushing a stroller requires two hands and therefore, when it is raining, it is very difficult for the caretaker to both push the stroller and hold an umbrella at such an angle that the child is covered from the rain. Once a child gets wet, the child becomes irritable and very difficult to manage.
Since it is not practical to both push the stroller and hold an umbrella, transparent plastic rain covers for strollers are known. These types of rain covers are typically supported by the same rigid framework of the stroller. Unfortunately, the rain covers are separate items that need to be removed from their stored locations, typically under the stroller, and then they are unrolled and attached to the frame at several locations. This can be a very cumbersome and difficult process, especially for a single caretaker. First, the protective covers when unrolled are bulky and when trying to attach one end of the cover, the opposite end of the cover is free and unattached and therefore, can blow in the wind, thereby making it all the more difficult to attach the cover to the stroller. For example, it can become very frustrating for the caretaker when one end that is attached becomes detached while trying to attach the other end and meanwhile, both child and caretaker are getting wet.
Even the high end strollers that are currently on the market have relatively basic rain covers that are detachable from the stroller when not in use and require a considerable amount of space to store them. As a result, many caretakers do not bring along the protective shield (cover) that is to be taken out and placed on the stroller, when needed, for the simple reason that the existing protective shields are very bulky and difficult to handle and furthermore, they must be stored underneath the stroller, which is undesirable. In days where changeable weather is possible but not likely, the caretaker is more apt to forego bringing the protective shield since it will occupy a substantial amount of the storage space underneath the child's seat. This is not desirable since it prevents or severely limits the amount of other more necessary items, such as a change of clothes, food, etc., that can be taken along in the stroller. Moreover, storing the protective shield (or an umbrella) can impede normal folding of the stroller unless all large articles are removed.
In addition, another deficiency of current stroller design is that the strollers have limited storage capabilities and the storage members themselves are very generic and standard looking. For example, the stroller typically has a storage bin underneath the stroller's seat. The storage bin can be a reinforced flexible piece of plastic on which different items can be placed and stowed. The storage area can also include netting or the like for holding different items. Since this area is fairly limited in space, most caretakers also carry a bag to store other items, such as diapers, cloths, water, food, etc. This extra bag is often just simply placed on and around the handle bars of the stroller so that it hangs therefrom or wedged into the storage bin below. Unfortunately, the bag can slide at times and worse, can easily be removed by a thief or the like if left unattended. Meanwhile, any articles stowed in the storage area have to be removed to permit folding of the stroller. In addition, many women wish to continue to use their expensive, designer hand bags, etc. when they are using the strollers.
As strollers become more and more fashionable, there is a need for stroller accessories that permit the user to maintain a high level of fashion and in particular, there is a need for a stroller that allows a woman to securely support a designer bag while using the stroller.